Air Nailer

[DulwichGnome]

I use one of these,
http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/drapertools/product.php?product=137436
20mm all round on frames, the 20 gauge being a bit thiner works well. Also hanging it from one of these makes it a lot easier to handle,
http://www.premier-storage.co.uk/wo...ol-balancer-hrb08z-for-17-5.html#.UNb2yawa98U

Mike.

 

[Hivemaker.]

The Ace & K range of air nailers/staplers have proven to be very reliable, and BroomWade supply a good range of industrial air compressors, piston type minimum of 14 cfm seems to work well,and keep up with several nail guns being used at the same time,plus other tools such as air chisels,drills,spray guns, metal shears, ect.

http://www.broomwade.com/

Ingersoll-Rand is also another good make of compressor i have used.

 

[DanBee]

seems to work well,and keep up with several nail guns being used at the same time,plus other tools such as air chisels,drills,spray guns, metal shears, ect.

Now I know what to get you for Christmas, Pete:

 

[REDWOOD]

38 mm brads you are very hard pushed to pull them apart
how do you pull them apart if you need to change the foundation ?

 

[enrico]

Just a tip, when you nail bottom bars always nail from bottom up and not from side, SO much easier to take bottom bars off when replacing wax foundation.
E

 

[REDWOOD]

Just a tip, when you nail bottom bars always nail from bottom up and not from side, SO much easier to take bottom bars off when replacing wax foundation.
E

I do but 38mm are twice as long as what I use

 

[Tdf]

can anyone reccomend a compressor?

Use once? Last a lifetime? What size?

Basically you pays your money and get what you pays for.

Slower revving with cast iron cyinder(s) are better for long life but may be slighly less efficient to run. The 'compound' ones are better (compress in a larger cylinder first then transfer to a smaller, higher pressure cylinder), the better ones with some cooling arrangement between the two stages.

Problem is that requirements change - add other tools which require more air ,or consistent high pressure and the small compressors are a pain for anything other than intermittent tool operation, but space and portability is yet another facet to consider.

I have my old compound cast iron 8 Bar machine (large, fixed position, but still only about 15-20 cubic metres per hour) and a smaller 6 Bar machine (for portability). There are a couple of low pressure 'blowers' and a couple other compressors stashed away somewhere, should I ever need one for a project.

So, start with your requirements and buy accordingly. Note that many compressors (most of the highly competing 'bottom end of the market' machines) are rated as swept volume, not delivered free air, so beware - real output could be much less than apparent rating! And tools are always volume rated as low as they can (new and spot on the pressure)

I have never bought a new machine. My main one (had it over twenty years) came from a farm sale and the smaller one from a 'market trader at a rally. Both were cheap enough (£30 & less than £20) although I did my own hydraulic testing to confiirm they were in safe condition. Insurance is another aspect to consider, of course.

Just remember cheap and cheerfull is just that - not long lived and prone to failure (more highly stressed with cheaper components). Repairability might be yet another consideration. Some are 'throw away', and your capabilities need to be taken into account.

Not much of a recommendation but may be of some help when choosing.

RAB

thanks for that

I do but 38mm are twice as long as what I use

if your frames are wired its not necessary to remove bottom bars

 

[Black Comb]

It's OK buying second hand if you know what you are doing but if the receiver is faulty it can cause an explosion.

 

[REDWOOD]

thanks for that



if your frames are wired its not necessary to remove bottom bars

True

 

[Into the lions den]

38 mm brads you are very hard pushed to pull them apart
how do you pull them apart if you need to change the foundation ?

Can of worms question there..............

OK.....well for a start we NEVER remove bottom bars for foundation renewal. In the past when using prewired foundation then yes, you have wedge bars, grooved sides, and thin gaps between bottom bars to consider.

These days we have cross wired every frame (ok some Smtih ones still to finish, but mostly done) and we get the foundation made slightly short sized, both side to side and top to bottom. All NEW frames we have made now also have a wider groove in the top bar and we never detach the wedge (they only actually have the wedge because people we sell them to still like to do it the traditional British way). They also have no grooves in the side bars and we did away with the 'V' at the lugs, its not necessary. (The wide groove, and extra robust bottom bars, are to accommodate plastic foundation for tose who choose that.)

When replacing the wax you just steam or cutout the old comb carefully, steaming or boiling until asll the wax has come away from the groove in the top bar. Between the bottom bars usually goes first, but its not relevant anyway.

Then you just check the wires for tension, stretching with a drawing pin if needed, and electrically embed a new sheet of foundaton onto the wires, with the head of the sheet up inside the groove in the topbars, and ending about a quarter to half inch short of the bottom bars.


Why end short? Well you then NEVER get the little bit of 'bellying' where the foundation meets the bottom bars, and every comb is drawn perfectly flat. The bees joining the comb onto the bottom bars themselves does seem to lead to a stronger comb. (The exception here being in bottom boxes, where they may not like to join them in some cases)

Its also blindingly fast. Takes one person 3 to 4 minutes to rewax a whole box of 10 after the boiling/steaming has been done. Not terribly unusual for one of our girls (the fastest one) to get through 80 boxes a day, inclusive of time lost faffing about.

We assemble frames in a manner that is the result of the intention NEVER to take them apart. Full frame clean manually is more expensive than buying a new one.

 

[REDWOOD]

Thanks ITLD I thought It would go something like that as I remembered you were after some eyelets so I knew you wired your frames, Cool stuff.

 

[oliver90owner]

It's OK buying second hand if you know what you are doing but if the receiver is faulty it can cause an explosion.

We should all be aware of that! That is why I said:'although I did my own hydraulic testing to confiirm they were in safe condition.' and 'Insurance is another aspect to consider, of course.'

I considered locating my tank (fixed machine) outside the building. Behind a robust weld mesh cage is good. Not sure how often the larger air receivers are checked for insurance purposes, but receivers can now easily be checked for thickness of metal and for corrosion. I tested mine - a visual check and 50%(?) over-pressure test (filled with water and then pressurised using a grease gun). Simple and effective. Due again now, I suppose.

I would add that compressed air is not the most efficient mover of working tools, but is very convenient and avoids long trailing electrical extension leads.

An electric nailer is sooo much cheaper to buy and run - using a pneumatic nailer is only a better option for out-and-out power and operational speed in appropriate circumstances. In most cases a nailer uses far less air than the other tools used with your compressed air supply. Pressurising a tank for driving a few nails is relatively costly in running terms. Owning a compressor just for nailing is way OTT, too.

RAB